Brown’s budget could mean more local control for schools

If the legislature passes Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, it could mean more local control for school districts.

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By John V. Cianijciani@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

By John V. Cianijciani@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 2:00 PM

By John V. Cianijciani@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 2:00 PM

If the legislature passes Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, it could mean more local control for school districts.

Reporting to the Sierra Sands Unified School District Superintendent’s Council, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Elaine Janson said she and Superintendent Joanna Rummer attended a School Services of California workshop Wednesday in Sacramento.

She said the governor is proposing a local control funding formula.

“Last year, the governor began discussions about how school districts and local education agencies could have more local control,” Janson said. “The other thing he wanted to enter into a conversation about was the fact they want to change the whole funding mechanism for K-12 education.”

She said the state looked at a couple of versions of the weighted student formula.

“This year, it’s being called the local control funding formula,” she said.

Janson said the governor’s proposal is the beginning of the process.

“That begins the dialogue and the discussion and the negotiation about what features are going to be maintained,” she said. “We know there will be changes. We cannot predict or forecast what those changes might look like.”

She said there a little more optimism about the fiscal health of the state.

“That was helpful. We all felt we could all breathe a little bit easier, because it appears that although the recession is still with us, we are coming out of it slowly in a weak fashion,” Janson said. “Right now we seem to be doing a little bit better.”

She said the governor recognizes school districts have a lot of challenges that have fiscal implications for children who are English-language learners and students who have high poverty.

“The real challenge in the weighted student formula, which we’re now calling the local control funding formula is how they can provide the funding for those in need and not disadvantage the rest of us,” she said. “When we were looking at weighted student formula proposals from last year, is every time we did the calculations, we lost money on the deal.”

Janson said at the moment, while schools and school districts will not gain a lot of revenue, they should not lose money.

“We don’t know what our calculation will be, we are informed that the Department of Finance is going to do the calculations for every school district in the state,” she said.

Janson said the passage of Proposition 30 provides no new revenue this year, but it is buying down deferrals.

“We being deficited at almost 23 percent this year,” she said. “While we still expect to receive a small amount of new money, the cost-of-living adjustment plans for next year is 1.65 percent. The caveat is that while we may get a 1.65-percent COLA next year, we will still be deficit funded at 22.72 percent.”

Page 2 of 2 - She said the governor believes the money that will accrue from Proposition 30 will continue to pay down deferrals.

“It means that the money that was promised to us that the check was in the mail but was going to take a long time to get here, it will take a little less time to get here,” said Janson. “If we think we’re going to get money in 2013, it actually comes in 2013. The bottom line is we think we see a lot of changes in the way education is going to be funded. Unfortunately we cannot tell what those changes will look like.”